Agnes was a person of deep curiosity, and so even in extremity she couldn't help observing all around her that was new. She rode along with interest, even though her brain was half frozen and she suffered stabs of intense cold. On the way to the reservation, she found intriguing correspondences with her old life. The river was flooding three hundred miles to the south because to the north its mouth was still frozen. So in a way, she thought, the region had conspired with itself to bring her north, to dump her from her house into the current where she was rescued and where she changed clothing with the priest - ah, the priest's clothes! That was another thing. Even now, the driver treated her with much more respect as a priest than she'd ever known as a nun .... So this is what a priest gets, heads bowing and curious respectful attention!